Essence of the Heart
by TimelessDetective
Summary: post KH2:After the organization has been defeated, all seems right with the worlds, but some interesting dreams from Sora beg to differ. When one mysterious Trex appears, weilding an unkown keyblade, he claims Xehanort is his master.Why do they need sora?
1. The dream

Hey everyone! Just to let yall know, i am, or WAS, Assassin of Oblivion...lol if you read the authors note in my story you'll know. so please dont start the "you stole this story...blah blah...this is my story, ok?" Its just a new account... " i know the old..."change pen name" thing...but i notice that after i made this, well you know how it goes " just a maddie moment for me. lol

anyway, disclaimer: do not own kingdom hearts or its characters...and i dont own disney or any of its places, characters either, but what i do own is this plot and fic and any OCs i might or might stick in later. depends.

now to some readers who've already read this, im going to continue this, and to my new readers, thx for reading it! hope you enjoy.

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He was falling again, but deeper into darkness' embrace

He was falling again, but deeper into darkness' embrace. As he fell, memories of the past flooded into his mind: the island disappearing, getting separated from Riku and Kairi, and then ending up in traverse town only to find out that he was the Keyblade Master and had to save all the worlds from the heartless and later on nobodies while searching for his friends. A smile crept onto the young brunettes face as he remembered his friends, their faces, their voices...It was because of them that he always had the strength to continue on, but not only his two best friends Riku and Kairi, but all the others he had met along his journeys; Donald, Goofy, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and so many more.

Suddenly a light from somewhere beneath the teen caught his attention and was soon engulfed in it. He opened his eyes again when his feet made contact with solid ground and saw only the dusty and barren landscape around him.

"What? Where is this?" Sora asked aloud, but of course no answer came. He looked around him and that's when he got a good look at his surroundings. He was standing in the middle of some sort of crossroad, but that wasn't what caught really his attention, what he saw made him draw in a quick deep breath. Crystalline blue eyes widened as he gazed upon Keyblades, all different shapes and sizes, stuck in the ground all along the roads, so many he couldnt even dream of counting them all.

A strong gust of wind blew up the dust and sand spiraling them into dust clouds that blew around Sora, who had to shield his face from it. When the wind died down after a few minutes he removed his hands from his face, which now showed a slight annoyed expression.

"_What am I suppose to be doing here?" _Sora thought. He sighed and looked around once more, but before he had time to look very far, a dark figure suddenly appeared at the end of one of the roads; walking straight towards Sora. The teen blinked his eyes a few times to make sure he wasnt seeing things, but sure enough the figure was still there, silently approaching. Once the other had finally stopped he was only a few feet away from Sora, silently standing there as if analyzing him. The other was obviously male judging from his build, but Sora couldn't see his face at all; a black helmet type object was covering his face. He wore black, well not really WORE it, he seemed to a type of body suit of some kind with red designs across his chest, on his arms, and legs with cloth that was attached from the man's belt blowing behind him from the wind. Sora saw that the red design on the others chest seemed to be some sort of heartless symbol, but he wasn't sure. Just to be safe Sora jumped back a few feet to get a good bit of distance between the two; the man just stood there, still watching.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sora asked the man. Silence was his response. This made Sora more even more annoyed.

"Hello? Answer me!" Sora demanded staring at the silent other. "Tell me you name if not anything, geez" The man stood there in silence for a few minutes before he finally spoke, but never dropped his gaze from the annoyed teen on front of him.

"I have no...name...Keyblade...Master..." He spoke, but as he spoke it sounded as his multiple voices were speaking over each other, and it sent chills down Sora's spine.

"What do you mean? How do you know me?" Sora asked the man, secretly hoping he would remain silent, but he spoke again.

"Keyblade Master," he repeated more clearly. "Your time is coming and this time you will submit to the darkness within you! You thought that you could stop the darkness? Try to weaken it? Well, your wrong Key wielder, so very wrong. The Dark is returning, this time stronger than ever! So watch you back, they're coming for you." He finished by raising his hand and with a flash; a dark blade appeared in his hand which he pointed at Sora. "Beware young wielder, for you have been warned."  
Sora took a step back and quickly summoned the Kingdom Key; having the familiar weight of the blade gave some reassurance to Brunette.

"What are you talking about? Who's coming?" Sora asked perplex, but this time the man let out a menacing laugh and started to disappear into what look like thin air. His body seemed to slowly disintegrate right before Sora's very eyes.

"Where do you think you're going? Come back here and answer my questions!" Sora yelled lunging at the disappearing figure, but as he swung at it he never got a solid hit, he went right threw the man! "Wait, what tha-" Sora was at a lost, he looked from the man to the Keyblade and then back.

By this time the man was just about gone; he let out one more laugh and said, "Until we meet next time wielder, that is IF you last that long."

Sora glared at him until he vanished completely, once again leaving Sora in the crossroads alone. He stared at the place where the man had vanished thinking over the threat that had been given earlier.

"_What did he mean my time is coming? Or that the darkness was returning and that they were coming for me. The question is, who is "they" that he mentioned? This is all too weird, and just when we were all settling down too." _Sora let out another long sigh as he thought things over, but was soon shook from his thoughts by the violent trembling of the ground. "Oh, great, now what's going to happen?" All around him the Keyblades were falling to the ground, kicking up more dust and dirt into the air blocking Sora's view more. "Gosh, what is with this, Sora mumbled as he tried his hardest not to fall over, i can barely see now and-." His eyes must have been wide as saucers as he saw what he had been dreading. The ground around him was sinking and collapsing everywhere!

"I just had to ask didnt I?" Sora groaned as he frantically looked for a possible escape route, but unfortunately found none. "Uh-oh..." And as if on cue the ground below him opened up and he was once again thrown into darkness.

* * *

-the past is lost to the Dark while the future looms just over the Horizon-

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Hey..yeah this is short, but I don't know how far I'lll actually take this...i have 6 chps written but i still need to type them up...and to those who notice this is also on my DeviantArt account too...im the same person. Go ahead and criticize if you must, you cant get better unless you imporve the bad parts..but good comments are also welcomed...with school registration and everything im rly busy so ill try to be as frequent in my updates ok...idk what else to say really...so byes

Aiko Cho


	2. Good Byes

yay! chp. 2! DD finally! lol These first few chp.s might be a little slow, but bear with it ok? its gonna get better!

i dont think i need to repeat the disclaimer do i? i mean everyone here probably knows it by heart right? lol

umm, oh yeah!

"..." regular speech.

_"..." thinking or flashbacks (ill let you know when one come up)_

**"dreams"**

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"Sora"

"Sora...," a voice called out to him. "Sora..."

Said boy looked around himself, still nothing but darkness.

"Who's calling me?" he wondered aloud. "It sounds familiar, but-"

"Sora! Wake up you lazy bum!" The voice yelled causing a bright flood of light to penetrate the darkness around him.

"Whoa!" Sora yelled bolting up. He looked around himself, at the familiar sunny, cloudless blue sky, and the warm sand beaches. A giggle from his left drew his attention to the redhead that continued to stifle her laughter. Sora raised an eyebrow at her, "What was that all about Kairi? It seems every time I try to sleep here you always prevent that from happening." Sora said crossing his arms and putting on a fake pout. Really he was glad she had woken him up, dream or not that darkness was suffocating.

"Oh come on, she said finally getting over her giggles, it's too nice a day for you to be sleeping all day..._**again!**_" She had put emphasis on the word "again" to get her point across. Sora just smiled lazily back at her, blue eyes sparkling like sapphires in the sunlight and she wouldn't admit it then, but Kairi felt her heart stop beating for a fraction of a second. She blushed a little.

"Come on, don't I deserve to sleep once in a while?" He asked standing up and brushing himself off. "Besides, it's not like- Are you feeling okay Kairi? You look a little red in the face" He asked looking at her, oblivious to what it really was.

Kairi shook her head hoping to make the blush disappear and turned back to him ignoring the last question.

"Sora, you where asleep for an entire YEAR! So I think you're caught up ok?" She said as she walked towards the docks. What she had said was when she was referring to when Sora told her about having been asleep for a year in those pods, but couldnt remember why or how he had gotten there. Sora rolled his eyes playfully and followed his friend.

When they got there, Kairi pointed and smiled happily, "Look how beautiful the sunset is!"

"Don't point Kairi, you look like a tourist." Sora joked. _Wow, its sunset already? I must have slept for quite awhile because it was at least an hour or so past noon..._

"Oh Sora..." She sighed rolling her eyes.

"Hmm?" He turned to look at her.

"It's been so long since we've been like this; just the two of us, watching the sunset. Just like when we were kids."

"You're right, seems like the last time was the day before we had planned to set out on our raft." Sora replied turning his attention back towards the fading sun. It's been so long since then; they'd been through so much, changed so much since then. Kairi had grown alot taller and her red hair had grown out to her shoulders. She was wearing her casual pink dress with her white lace up tennis shoes. Sora had grown taller as well, a couple inches taller then Kairi yet still shorter than their friend Riku. He had on black sports shorts that went down to his knee (and were not puffy! just normal) He wore his (regular sized) black tennis shoes and had on a red T-shirt with black stripes on the sleeve, and of course had his crown pendant hanging from his neck where it sparkled occasional in the dim light. The thought of their poor pitiful raft made Sora laugh

Kairi raised an eyebrow, "What's so funny?" she asked.

"The raft," Sora managed after he finished laughing. "How far do you think we actually would have gotten with a bunch of logs tied together and a few coconuts?"

Kairi laughed as she realized how childish they all were.

"Well, I guess it's about time we headed home Kai." Sora said stretching his arms out. "My mom will probably freak if i get back to late." He walked down and got into the boat they had come in earlier that afternoon. "Coming?" He asked with his signature grin.

"Ok, ok, I'm coming she said climbing in as well. As they rowed back toward the main land it was mostly silence until Kairi decided to break it.

"Hey Sora, how are your parents doing? You since you've been back and all?" she asked timidly. It's true she was curious, Sora and Riku had only been back for about a week and none of them have really talked about their family situations. Sora continued rowing as he thought of what to say.

"Things are...ok I guess," he finally said grinning.

"Well that much is obvious, but like isn't she u know...she didn't know how to word this correctly. She took a breath, "Is she afraid you are going to disappear again? I mean like you have a lot of liberty for a kid that's been missing from his parents for like 2 years. Normally a parent would be like over protective or psycho after that! She finished and was trying to read his facial expression; but it was just thoughtful, staring at her with those piercing blue eyes. After a minute or so Sora just chuckled, leaving Kairi confused.

"What?" She asked him.

"I appreciate you worrying, but seriously, everything's fine." He assured her.

"Really? What have they said? I'm sure they are glad you're back." Kairi said looking over the calm waters of Destiny Island.

"Well, I can just tell you Kai if that's what you want to know." Sora said.

"Okay then, spill." Kairi grinned.

"Alright, well you know everything from once we got back to the Island after we all met..." Sora said remembering.

"_I'm so glad that's all over with." Donald said to Goofy._

"_Gawrsh, me too, but I'm glad that Sora and Riku made it back safe and sound." Goofy said nodding in the direction of the two teens who where currently conversing with the King._

"_Well fellas it's been a pleasure seeing you all again. I'm really glad you all made it back" King Mickey said smiling at them._

"_Yeah, sure thing." Sora said standing in his normal posture, his arms crossed behind his head._

"_So is it over with? Riku asked mickey. There won't be a need for all of us to fight again is there?" Mickey was silent for a moment, thinking over his choice of words carefully._

"_I wouldn't say that for sure," he said carefully. You all know that as long as darkness remains in people's hearts there is always a chance of heartless and if there are heartless the same goes for the nobodies. _

_Sora got a sadden look on his face, "Does that mean we have to keep fighting?"_

"_No, listen, Mickey said waving his hands, after that last fight the heartless were almost completely obliterated and the nobodies reduced to, well, nothing! There won't be another chance of the worlds disappearing again as long as we are here because we know what to expect now, we'll be ready! Now cheer up Sora, you're home, you can finally relax and go back to your normal lives._

_This brought a smile back onto the brunette's face, "Alright." _

"_Hey Sora, come over here!" It was Kairi and she was talking with Donald and Goofy._

"_Alright, I'm coming. He said laughing. He walked over there and Kairi looked him in the face smiling. What?" He asked her confused._

"_Is it true that you guys were asleep for a whole year!?" she asked with her eyes wide. Sora looked at Donald and Goofy with the "Why'd you have to tell her that" look._

"_Yes..." He mumbled. Kairi started laughing._

"_Ha! Sora you lazy bum," she said wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling him down so she could noggie him. "Even when you are suppose you're suppose to be saving everyone you still have time to be lazy."_

"_Kairi cut it out! Sora said pulling away. I was not being lazy either! I don't even know what i was doing there in the first place!" Kairi gave him a disbelieving look. "You gotta believe me! Donald, Goofy, tell her" As they quarreled it out Riku and the King watched from the side lines. _

"_Those too are going to be a handful." Riku muttered shaking his head, but not even he could hide the smile that played his lips._

"_I'm glad everything worked out for all of yall," Mickey said putting a hand on Riku's arms. "You all need a nice long rest and maybe finish out your summer vacation that you missed out on._

"_Yeah, maybe..." He said turning his head to the sunset. "You know it's really strange."_

"_What is?" Mickey asked._

"_I wanted to leave this place so badly, but now I realize I was sadly mistaken. Out of everything that has happened that sunset is one of the things i missed seeing the most."_

_The king smiled at him before getting a serious expression on his face._

"_Riku, I need to tell you something important." The king explained horridly._

"_What is it?" Riku said turning his attention on full to what the king was saying._

"_Listen, I don't want you to tell Sora or Kairi this yet, but while I have been traveling I have been working on a secondary project you could say, he said smiling._

_Riku raised an eyebrow, "And what might that be?" he asked._

"_Well, remember how all the worlds fell one by one when the darkness first started to spread?" he asked._

"_Yes..." He answered, lost at where this was going._

"_I don't think you know this since you weren't around, but some friends of ours had a hypothesis as to why it happened so quick and powerful."_

"_And that would be...?" Riku egged him on, this was sounding interesting,_

"_Well, she thought that it might be because all the worlds were and remained disconnected by each other. It was law that the going ons and such of other worlds would remain secret, but now the more I think over that the more right it seems to be." Mickey said staring out over the waters._

"_So what you're telling me is that this "Project" of yours was trying to get the worlds connected again?" Riku asked also turning his gaze out over the waters._

_Mickey smiled, "It's true that it was, but now i don't really need to worry about it anymore."_

"_What do you mean? Are you just going to leave them as they are? It might be dangerous since as you said there is always a chance for everything to repeat itself; with us ready for it or not." Mickey chuckled at the silver haired teen._

"_No, I know that, but what I'm trying to say is that they already ARE connected!" Mickey said with hushed enthusiasm so he wouldn't attract the others attention._

_Riku was confused for a moment, "How is that-?" but then he followed Mickey's gaze towards his best friend. "Of course," Riku chided himself for being so dumb as to not figure it out sooner. "Sora's the reason." Mickey nodded._

"_He's what connects all of us, our hearts, and even the hearts of the worlds." He finished._

"_So does that mean that everyone will be able too...able to meet each other?" He questioned._

"_Well, yes and no." The king replied with a thoughtful look. He chuckled again when he saw Riku's confused expression. "Well at first I think that we should have a meeting of sorts so we can sort this entire thing out before everyone knows about it. We'll have a...representative of each world and there we'll discuss how to go about doing this."_

"_How will you decide who will be the best choice for this meeting of yours?" Riku asked thinking it over. It seemed like a reasonable idea._

"_That's easy, mickey explained, we'll just have the people that already know everything: the heartless, nobodies, the other worlds, and of course our trio over there." He finished nodding in Sora, Donald, and Goofy's direction. _

"_So basically all of Sora's friends that he's made..." Riku sighed._

_Mickey nodded, "Yup."_

"_And when will this "meeting" take place? Are we to be expected to come?" Riku asked._

"_Well we are still talking with everyone about that, but don't worry, we'll contact you guys." Mickey said rubbing his chin._

"_I guess I'll go tell Sora and Kairi." Riku said, stretching his sore muscles from that last fight. He started to walk off but Mickey jumped in front of him._

"_No! Don't tell them. At least not yet anyways, I want it to be a surprise for Sora. He'll get a chance to see all of his other friends and Kairi can meet everyone." Mickey explained in another hushed whisper._

_Riku looked at his small friend for a moment before sighing in defeat. "Ok, I guess that's alright." Riku finally said. Mickey smiled. _

"_Good. Now, if you excuse me i think it's about time all of us head home." The king said sadly. Even though they were seeing each other again it was still sad after everything they've been together through. Riku nodded understanding, also sad to see his friend leaving._

"_Listen, your Majesty, thanks for all your help." Riku told him as they walked towards the merry group that was their friends. Mickey waved it off._

"_It wasn't me who did anything, it was YOU, but as you say I just helped out a little along the way." They finally got to the group. "Hey fellas."_

"_Oh hey there your majesty!" Goofy greeted merrily. The others said their greetings as well. Riku went to go stand next to Sora and Kairi while Mickey walked over to his court magician and head guard._

"_I hate to be the one saying this, but I'm afraid we have to be going." Mickey told them. This statement was met with sad expressions from the rest of the group as expected._

* * *

-the best part of life comes after your asleep-

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End Chp. 2...and for those who dont know..those are lil quotes I put at the end of Chps...- just a lil fun and all. lol So i hope this was all right...boring i know and a horrible way to end it, but i did it anyways, so ill go ahead and post Chp. 3 so it wont be so bad X3 dont forget to review, and dont hesitate to point out mistakes! until next ch

aiko C


	3. home again

**HEY! to all that have read to this point i thank you! - lol **

**Hello to new and old readers. for those who've found it again, i feel bad for making u wait...but im hoping to get more of my reviews back! XD so ill post this chp for you guys! 3 (i have like up to 7 chps typed, and WAAAY more written down, so review ppl!)**

yay, so heres chp. 3. - umm...i cant rly think of anything to SAY...but...uh -"

wow, this must be confusing...the whole switching accounts thing, i kinda feel bad...please forgive. oh, that means those reviews i did have are gone now... sigh lol o well, ill live xD

Disclaimer: dont own kingdom hearts or disney, but i own this plot and fic, as u probably know by now... o well, heres chp. 3

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**Recap:**_ "Listen, your Majesty, thanks for all your help." Riku told him as they walked towards the merry group that was their friends. Mickey waved it off._

"_It wasn't me who did anything, it was YOU, but as you say I just helped out a little along the way." They finally got to the group. "Hey fellas."_

"_Oh, hey there your majesty." Goofy greeted merrily. The others said their greetings as well. Riku went to go stand next to Sora and Kairi while Mickey walked over to his court magician and head guard._

"_I hate to be the one saying this, but I'm afraid we have to be going." Mickey told them. This statement was met with sad expressions from the rest of the group as expected._

"_Already?" Sora asked frowning. He had been with Donald and Goofy for so long he couldn't imagine them being gone._

"_Yes, yes," the king explained. "There are things that need to be done back at the castle. We need to get Jiminy's Journal copied in the records and check on our own world."_

"_That's right!" Goofy said smashing his hands together. "You still need to see Queen Minnie too! I know she has been worried about you." The king chuckled, thinking about his wife, Minnie, that he had left behind with nothing but a note detailing his mission and his return unknown. "And don't forget Daisy too, Donald." He finished slapping the duck's back._

"_Oh boy..." the duck covered his eyes; imagining what was waiting for him back home was enough to leave him or anyone else anxious._

"_Will we see you again?" Kairi asked, turning to face the small king. Of course he knew the answer to this, but now wasnt the right time to reveal it; it was to be a surprise after all._

"_I think that might be possible." Mickey nodded his head as if thinking hard on the matter. Sora and Kairi immediately brightened up, as did Donald and Goofy. As long as the good-byes weren't permanent then they were alright with the separations. _

"_How do you expect to get back anyways?" Sora asked looking around, he didnt see any gummi ship around. _

"_I have a way," Mickey replied with a twinkle in his eyes. This time the three teens were confused._

"_Gawrsh, you forget, the king was a student of Yen Sid's," Goofy told them nodding. "So we'll get home by magic! Uh, right your majesty?"_

"_Yes, yes Goofy. You nailed it. Said king replied. Now come along, we best be going, and you three, he added; need to go home as well. Riku, Sora, your parents must be worried with the time you both were gone!"_

_The brunette rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Yeah, but after all that worry fades they'll just be really, really, REALLY angry and will want an explanation. What are we suppose to tell them? We can't tell them the truth; I seriously doubt they'd believe us anyways." _

_Oh yes, the trios both forgot about that one._

"_Why don't you try faking amnesia or something?" Donald suggested._

"_I have no idea what we can do...," Riku mumbled rubbing his temple. "But we'll figure something out."_

"_That's easy." the king chuckled. They all looked at him. Well, not exactly, but this might help you guys out a little. You see, when your world first disappeared, it seems only you three ended up on another world. The others didn't, they must have disappeared along with it." This was met with alarmed faces. "No, no. Everything's fine now, everyone's back, but what I'm trying to say is, is that they won't remember anything. To them, the only thing that happened was a weird storm came and everything went on as normal, but you two, he said motioning to Riku and Sora, had disappeared. Kairi didn't because Sora sent her back when the islands returned. Do you see where I'm going with this?" He asked them._

"_I think so." Sora said putting his hand on his forehead; mocking Pooh's "thinking" pose._

"_So all that time they were gone is like it never happened?" Kairi asked._

"_Well, yes and no." When everything first disappeared, it was like time almost froze. No one here knows that the island ever disappeared, so don't try asking people about it. BUT you weren't finished remember? After you, Sora, restored the worlds you continued on your journey, but since you weren't here of course people here would notice, but remember, you were asleep for a whole year getting your memories repaired and everyone forgot about you, so technically you weren't missed here either. After you woke up and traveled defeating the nobodies and the organization was around another half a year of you missing here."_

"_Oh, ok." Sora nodded._

_Then the king turned to Riku, "You on the other hand were gone much longer than Sora according to the time here. No one forgot about you all that time. This made the silver haired teen grimace._

"_Man, this is going to be troublesome. He mumbled._

"_Yes it will be...OH!" The king brought his hands together._

"_What is it?" Donald asked._

"_I know I can't erase everyones memory of you both being gone, but I can at least erase most of the time you were missing Riku so you'd be gone around the same length Sora was. I think that would make it easier on you. What do you say?"_

_Riku smiled, "I think that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot your majesty."_

"_Don't thank me. It's only a small thing I can do to repay all of your help."_

"_It was nothing," Sora told him standing with his arms behind his head. "So when are you going to do that?"_

"_When I leave the magic will activate, don't worry, you'll see. Now, for explaining the rest of all of your absences will be up to you, he explained, do you think you'll be ok?"_

"_Of course, we'll be fine you majesty, this is just a little problem compared to everything else we've been through. Kairi assured him._

"_Well, alright, we'd best be going. Come on fellas!" He said motioning them to follow him. _

"_Bye guys." Sora yelled after them waving._

"_See ya Sora!" Goofy waved back along with Donald._

_The retreating trio walked down the beach and stopped. King Mickey summoned his Keyblade and held it in front of him. With one look back at the teens, giving a small smile in the process, there was a flash of light; it was so bright they had to cover their eyes, but when it was gone, so were the king, Donald and Goofy._

"_Wow..." Sora awed. "That was so cool!"_

_Kairi laughed, "I hope they got home."_

"_They did," Riku nodded his head. "He must have opened a pathway somehow..." The teens stood there for a moment in silence; it was hard to get a grip on the fact that they were all home, they were safe, and most important, they were together again._

"Yeah, I know that already, Kairi told him as he continued rowing toward shore, but what did your parents do? I told them that I had some things to walk over with Selphie and so I stayed at her house. They didn't really care as much but told me to never do that again without calling first. Im glad that they didn't called Selphie's house to verify that..." She stopped talking when she noticed the amused look on Sora's face. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just that the problems I'm used to hearing are just more drastic then ones like if a person was spending the night at their house or not, you know?"

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Sure."

"So you wanna know that badly?" He asked her ginning. The other nodded eagerly. "Ok, so... Well, after we all got back here, he explained nodding toward the docks that they were now approaching, remember we all decided to go back to out homes separately?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, well when I finally got to my house...

_He walked slowly up the walk to his front door. The house hadn't really changed much in his absence and he was a little surprised he hadn't forgotten where it was. The simple two story house with its sturdy wooden exterior with black shutters was surrounded by the small garden out in the front. Just seeing it almost brought tears to his eyes he missed it so much. ALMOST. He got to the front door. By this time it was dark outside, night was here, but even so there were a few lights on in the house. What would he say? How would they react? How would he react to their reaction? He was just confused, but as Kairi said earlier, they had been through worse. He raised his hand and brought it down on the wood, but softly knocking. It was quiet still so he knocked again. This time he saw the living room light turn on and the door bolt unbolted. He held his breath, this was it._

_The door swung open and he was temporary blinded by the sudden brightness of the hall light. As he recovered he looked up at the face of his father. He wasn't old; he was still young being in his early forties with light brown semi-spiky hair and hazel eyes. With the height of 5'9 and broad shouldered he was muscular. He was still his day clothes; khaki pants with a dark green shirt and had taken off his shoes in favor of walking around in his brown socks. They stared at each other for nearly 5 minutes before his father rushed out and trapped him in a bear hug._

"_Da-Dad you're suffocating me!" Sora gasped, but grinned despite the lack of oxygen; it had been more than a year sine he'd last seen him. He finally released his son, only to get a good look at him at arms length._

"_Look at you, you've grown so tall! You look more and more like your old dad each day now it seems, but your eyes are still sapphires like your mom. Sora laughed sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. _

"_**What is going on?" Sora thought. "Isn't he supposed to be mad or yell at me? He's acting like I came home from some vacation thing."**__ But he had thought to soon._

_His dad then turned serious and the grip on his arm tightened, as if scared they'd lose what they were holding. "Sora Hikari, said boy winced, his parents used his name when he was in serious trouble, but he had expected this. Where do you think you have been all this time?! Your mother and I have been worried sick! And the rest of the family, neighbors and especially your friends too!" his father almost yelled. Sora didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything. Suddenly footsteps were heard running down the stairs Sora knew was off the front hallway and soon Sora's mother also appeared having heard the racket. She stood there for a moment and just like her husband rushed to hold her son against her, not wanting to let go in fear of losing her precious son again. _

"_Sora, it's really you!" She started crying, "I can't believe you're finally home! I've been so worried, your father has been worried, and everyone has! She continued to sob into her son's shoulder. _

"_Shh, mom it's ok. Everything's fine. I'm sorry I worried everyone, but I'm back, I'm not leaving again. He looked into his mom's tearstained face; she was the same age as her husband, but unlike him had the height of only 5'7 with a very slim figure. She had only a blue robe that matched the color of her dazzling blue eyes; her dark brown hair fell lightly over her shoulders in waves. _

_She only hugged her son closer to her and looked about. No one had come out of their houses so now was as good a time as any to talk. _

_She wiped her face with her sleeve, "You look exhausted, come in and sit and tell us everything! Their better be a good explanation to why you worried us to death; no note, no phone call, you could have been dead for all we knew!!" Her sobbing fit was over and her mother mode was activating._

"_**Uh-oh...Well, here it goes..."**_

_His mother led him into the house, still holding onto his arm. They walked down the familiar hall and into the living room. Besides a few pieces of furniture and arrangements it hadn't really changed all that much; same carpet, same wall paper._

_So his mother sat him down on the edge of the couch and sat beside him and his father pulled up a chair. Now both of them were staring at him._

* * *

-One who knows nothing can understand nothing-

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so, the end of Chp. 3...tell me...how do you like it so far? reviews are welcomed. say anything you like, alls well.

chp. 4 up next, stay toon.


	4. surprise attack

Ok, sry for the long wait...I've been real busy and plus my computer hasn't been working for a while, but good news! summers here and my computers fixed! I have most of this story written down on paper, so all I have to do is type it and try to revise and correct a few things. XD and that was awhile ago...lol anyway

I do not own kingdom hearts or its characters, only this fanfic

Yori: "Wow, I can't believe you finally got this posted."

Aiko: "whered did YOU come from?"

Yori: "Oh, us? we've been here all this time, plotting our plans to-"

Aiko: "Us?"

Saki: "Yosh! ohayo! Aiko-chan."

Aiko: "o god..can u guys like...leave? Im kinda in the middle of something here..."

Saki: "Busy? yeah, yeah.

Yori: "well, we've heard it once, we've heard it a million times. "

Aiko: " Wait, so now u guys are teaming up against meh? well, maybe I'll just let you 2 handle this story! How about that?!"

Yori\Saki: "..."

Yori:" Uh, Saki?"

Saki: "you know i would loved to, but im a little busy "

Aiko: "Ha, Suuuure, your just as lazy, admit it!"

Saki: "NEVER"

Yori: "Wh-"

Saki: "Hello? There are ppl waiting for the story over there!!"

Aiko: "oh! your right. " sorry! So heres the story! (dramatic music ;D)

* * *

**recap:**

_His mother led him into the house, still holding onto his arm. They walked down the familiar hall and into the living room. Besides a few pieces of furniture and arrangements it hadn't really changed all that much; same carpet, same wall paper.So his mother sat him down on the edge of the couch and sat beside him and his father pulled up a chair. Now both of them were staring at him_

**Chp. 4**

"_Uh, well, where should I start..? There's so much to tell..," he scratched the back of his head._

"_Start from the beginning." his father told him._

_Sora took a deep breath, "I'm not going to bother lying to you, but you'll have to decide whether to believe me or not." _

_His parents just nodded; they wanted to hear this._

"_Ok, well..," Sora started his tale. Starting way back from where they started the raft and going from there, to the strange dreams, the heartless coming, the Keyblade, losing his friends, and everything else from start to finish. His parents had a hard time understanding the part where the world had disappeared for all that time, but anyone would do that._

"So, did they believe you?" The redhead asked her friend curiously.

"Yup" was the brief reply. He grinned as they pulled up next to the dock. Sora jumped out and after tying up the boat, her helped Kairi out.

"Really? Like, how?"

"I told them that I wasn't going to lie to them." Sora told her as he watched the sun start to disappear beyond the horizon. She gave him a look of disbelief. Sora laughed. "Ok, ok. So they didn't entirely believe me at first, but I got them to with a little help."

"From who?" Kairi asked.

"Not who, Kai, but what." He corrected. Again, she was confused. Here, I'll show you. Sora held out his right hand and the Kingdom Key materialized into his hand and he lazily slung it over his shoulder. Her eyes widened.

"You didn't!" She laughed and punched his shoulder.

"Of course I did, it was they key to getting them to believe me." He then laughed at his own pun. Kairi rolled her eyes and looked around them; the street lights were starting to come on.

"Hey, it's getting late. We probably should get going." Sora said walking along. "Come on! I'll walk you home." He called over his shoulder.

"Wait up, geez." She muttered before running after the other.

She was glad that everything was becoming normal again. Riku and Sora both had started school again, and since they were only gone for as long as people thought, they both got back into their appropriate grades. Sora was in 10th along with Kairi, Selphie, and Tidus while Riku was in 11th with Wakka. They were behind for a while, but with the help of their friends and parents, they caught up soon enough. They walked in silence for the rest of the time until they got to Kairi's house. It was a plain 2 story house with a simply balcony outside of Kairi and her parents' bedrooms. Sora walked her to the door.

"So I'll see you tomorrow then?" Sora grinned, and slowly started walking backwards down the path they'd come.

"Sure, I'll see you," she smiled. "Good night Sora."

"Night Kairi."

She watched him turn around and continue on. Its true shes had feelings for him for awhile now, no wait, she knew that shes been in love with him. Selphie had told her it had been obvious what the two felt towards each other, so why didn't they just go ahead and tell each other! She'd even told her that Tidus had told her that Sora told him that Sora felt the same way, always had, but yet there was a tiny part of her that was afraid to tell; afraid to speak up in fear of rejection. But as she watched him walking down the path she knew she had to do something, she knew she had to do it now.

"Sora! Wait," she called running after him.

"Hmm?" he turned around with a curious gaze. Kairi ran up to him, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. It wasn't a full kiss, but good enough.

"I'm glad your back," she whispered in his ear before turning and running back to the door. She looked back at him once more, smiled at ran inside; her face was as red as her hair. Sora was still standing there, the shock still implanted on his face. He slowly brought his hand up to the spot where she kissed him; instantly a huge blush spread across his face, but that couldn't hide the smile that appeared.

"Glad to be back, Kai," he whispered to the nights air. He looked down at his watch, and his eyes grew wide. "Oh no, I'm soo late!" He took off running towards his house; it was a couple blocks away, so he shouldn't be in too much trouble.

"_Late, Late, Late_," he thought, his shoes pounding against the pavement_. "Only a block more..," _he rounded the corner, but as he did, a sudden rustle in the bushes caught his attention. He slowed his pace, looking at it, but shook his head._ "Probably the wind or something, so nothing to worry about._ He looked at his watch again and groaned. "Dang it!" He started off again, but suddenly a shadow jumped from the bushes and jumped right into his way. He stumbled backwards and tripped over the cracks in the sidewalk and landed onto the ground "Wha..?" He then realized that it was exactly that, a shadow; the heartless stared up at him with its round yellow eyes.

"What the heck? Why's a heartless doing here? This is like, totally random now," he got no response. Suddenly it lunged at him, claws aimed towards his heart, but of course he knew what to do; he'd spent the last 2 years fighting them. He quickly back rolled and was back on his feet.

"Nope, not that easy," He chided and summoned the kingdom key. More heartless appeared and surrounded him, but of course, the Keyblade Master took them out as easily as throwing a stone.

"Heartless...," he muttered. "What are they doing here?" I'll have to tell the other two." He sighed, "So much for heading home." He turned around to run back to Kairi's house. "_So when I get there, I'll tell her and then call Riku to get this sorted out," he sighed again. "This feels like its going to be a long night..."_ He sighed, but after this was said, laughter filled the empty night's air. "Now what?" The brunette asked looking around. A dark portal appeared across the street; a man stepped from it, but not any guy, the man from his dream.

"You- you're real?" Sora asked surprised. The man laughed.

"Did you enjoy my welcoming gift, Key wielder?"

His eyes widened. "Wait, those were your heartless?"

"Not really, I just..," He paused. "Picked them up on the way"

If Sora could see his face he would have bet everything that a smirk would be plastered to his face, and judging from his tone, he won that bet.

"You turned them, didn't you?" he hissed, his blue eyes narrowing. They were no longer filled with their cheerful sparkle, but filled with distaste and seriousness.

"Maybe, it depends on whose point of view you look from."

"You stole their hearts!"

"Ouch, that's harsh." He chuckled. "You could just say that I was...helping them into their own darkness." Sora glared at him. "You look awfully serious, Keyblade wielder."

"It's Sora." He yelled.

He ignored him. "Your just looking for a fight, aren't ya?" He stopped abruptly and summoned a sphere of darkness around his hand and shot it at Sora, who easily dodged it.

"What are you? A heartless or nobody?" He asked through clenched teeth; his grip on the Kingdom Key tightening.

"I'm neither, I'm normal just like yourself, but unlike you I have the power to control the darkness." He explained.

"You can't _control_ the darkness, it'll take control of you eventually and it will swallow your heart in the darkness you thought you could control." He looked down remembering what happened to Riku. "It happens to even the strongest of hearts." He shot back.

"It's different this time around," He sighed as if he was trying to explain a math problem to a child.

"Uh-huh," Sora agreed sarcastically. "So how's that?"

"My master gave me the power; power to control and harness the darkness!" He laughed as he flexed his hands; bits of darkness assembled around them.

"Who is this master of your then? Wait, what is even your name?" Sora asked realizing he still didn't have a clue to who his opponent was. As he waited for an answer, he lowered the Keyblade and stood straighter. After a minute of waiting he finally answered.

"You may call me Trex, and as for my master..." Trex suddenly disappeared and reappeared on Sora's left.

"Damn!" Sora was caught off guard; Trex quickly summoned a dark blade and brought it down on Sora, who tried to maneuver out of the way, but was to slow. The blade skinned his left shoulder, leaving a bloody gash, and sent Sora flying backwards into a streetlamp, leaving a dent from the impact. Sora slid onto the ground breathing heavily.

"Uhh..," Sora's vision started to blur. He saw Trex approach him and kneel down in front of him. "Wha-." Trex grabbed the front of Sora's shirt and roughly picked him up to where they were face to face.

"Well, I thought I would be getting a challenge here, but all I got was some kid with no clue." He let out a harsh laugh and threw poor Sora back down onto the cement like a child done with its toy. The teen tried to get up, a comeback on the tip of his tongue, but his body wouldn't comply; he was stuck, he shoulder bleeding more by the minute. He stepped back and stuck out his right arm, summoning a portal of darkness.

Sora struggled to stay conscious; he needed to know that last thing, so he put all of his strength into a final question.

"Who...who is you—your master?" Sora choked out. Trex stopped and looked back.

"Ahh, you want to know my master's name?" He chuckled. "I don't think you're even worthy enough to here his name." Sora shot an icy glare at him. "Fine, fine, but knowing his name might do you worse than good."

"_What does he mean by "more worse than good?"_ Sora thought.

"My master, the controller of darkness, Master Xehanort!"

Sora gasped, it couldn't be Xehanort! Xehanort was gone, wasn't he? Mixed emotions and confused thoughts ran rampant through Sora. _"He's gotta be lying.." _Trex laughed at the young wielders reaction.

"Ugh..." Sora's body started to tremble, his surroundings growing dark; the battle to stay conscious was finally lost, and he collapsed onto the blood-stained sidewalk.

"Until next we meet, Sora." Trex said while giving the unconscious teen a mock bow before stepping through the portal.

In Disney Castle, a certain mouse king woke up sweaty and shocked; his heart still pounding in his chest. He sighed and put a hand to his forehead; the dream had been frightening, Sora suddenly attacked by heartless, some Trex fellow, and then the mention of Xehanort. It just didn't make any sense, but then again, when did anything make much sense lately.

"Mickey, something wrong dear?" it was Minnie, his wife. She had been awoken from the kings after dream panic.

"Oh, nothing Minnie, it was just a dream." He assured her, his heart slowly returning to its normal beat.

She yawned. "Mickey, its best if you get some rest, everyone's going to be here tomorrow for the meeting and we have to be ready, not tired."

"Your right, as usual," the King chuckled. "G'night Minnie."

"Goodnight Mickey."

* * *

-We're not paying for cable? I really am evil!-

* * *

...and thats it for chp. 4 - hope you guys are enjoying this so far, and more updates are coming!

So review if you want to. let ur opinions be known, and if you guys have an suggestions or feel the need to point mistakes, go ahead. so till next time! i seem to say that alot, weird... . i need something new to say.. XD? any ideas? lol R&R

Aiko C


	5. The Meeting

Aiko: "Here we go chp 5!"

Saki: "yes, that part is obvious"

Aiko: "gosh... you know how to ruin the moment"

Saki: "its what im here for!" XD

Aiko: "right, right...well you guys know the usual disclaimer, so no bothering to repeat it. ENJOY!"

The King was currently pacing back and forth in the throne room, currently waiting for everyone to arrive. Thanks to the brooms and other servants, tables had been arranged around the room for each world's representatives to reside at. Mickey was both excited and nervous, but who wouldn't be? Bringing a large group of people from completely different backgrounds and worlds; a meeting such as this has never occurred before! Plus there was also the fact that his old teacher, Yen Sid, had also planned on attending; no pressure right? He really shouldn't be worried, he's met most of these people and he has been around them before, but there was still something nagging at him from the back of his mind, the only question was what was it? Thoughts, questions, and idea flew in and out of his mind, well, all but one; the dream from last night. No matter what he tried he couldn't get it off his mind, it had just seemed so real! If it wasn't for this meeting, there was no doubt he would be on a gummi ship right now on his way to the Islands to check on things; the thought of Sora lying there bleeding and hurt, that Trex guy, it was too much. Everyone would be seriously upset if the young key wielder had actually been hurt, but just as his wife said, it was probably just another nightmare. As he pondered this, his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by shouts outside the door.

"Your majesty, the guests are arriving." It was Donald, his friend and the castles court magician.

"Thank you Donald," the King said straightening up. "I'll be there shortly." Donald gave a court nod and exited the room. _"Looks like its time, better get going." _Mickey left the throne room to spend the next hour and a half greeting everyone.

"Ah, Leon, it's great to see you again. How've ya been?" Mickey greeted shaking his hand. "I see the gangs all here." he chuckled as Yuffie, Cid, and Aerith walked up to them; they were marveling the castles size and the hospitality of its occupants.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" a child-like voice called out. Mickey looked around, but didn't see anybody.

"Oh no..." Cid muttered under his breath. Mickey looked at him quizzically.

"We're over here." Another voice spoke out, but this one was more serious than the first. Mickey turned around and saw three fairies; one with blonde hair, whom the "child" voice belonged to, a dark haired one wearing black, the one that just spoke, and finally a brunette that had a braid going down her back.

Mickey laughed, "Well sorry about that ladies, welcome to Disney castle."

"Glad we could come, you might not remember us, but Im Yuna," the brunette spoke up. "This is Rikku," she gestured toward the blonde. "This over here is Paine."

"Ah, yes, the treasure hunters if Im not mistaken. Please be sure to stay out of your job while you are here." He joked. The tree smiled sheepishly, Rikku rubbing the back of her head.

"Don't worry sir, we'll be our best!" she assured. With that the three flew off into the castle, following Pan's group inside; Tinkerbelle gave a disapproving look at the trio's excitement. Aerith sighed as she saw the looks from Cid and Yuffie.

"Come on you two, take it easy, and remember we didn't come here to fight."

Leon stepped up beside her. "She's right you know. So just cool it before you embarrass yourselves and us." He walked past them and went inside. Yuffie pouted but followed after him, Cid after her. Aerith gave Mickey a reassured smile before excusing herself to follow suit.

"_Looks like things could get interesting after all."_ Mickey sighed. He turned around to see Goofy coming with the new arrivals.

"-And we'll be in this room over here, hyuck," he explained merrily. "It's great to see you guys doing good as well by the way."

"Thank you Goofy." Jasmine smiled at him.

"So you can Donald are doing alright now," Aladdin observed; he was holding onto Abu, keeping the monkey in check.

"Yup, you betcha."

"Hey, where's Sora? I haven't seen him yet." Genie asked looking around.

"Gawrsh, I don't know if he was coming or not."

"Sora's not coming? Of all the people showing up the kid is the one that needs to be here." Iago huffed as he flew over and landed on Aladdin's shoulder.

"Well then you might want to go ask King Mickey, he otta know." Goofy scratched the top of his head. "Oh, speaking of which, there he is!" He led the group over.

"Why hello fellas," he smiled. "I hope your finding everything alright."

"Everything's been wonderful your majesty." Jasmine assured. "This might not be my place in asking, but are you feeling well? You look a bit tense."

"Oh, it's probably nothing, just my nerves or something." Mickey laughed.

"No kidding," Genie said. "Ah-ha!" A cloud of smoke enveloped him and when it was gone he was dressed as a doctor. "I can probably have you fixed up in a jiffy! Just-."

"Genie give it a rest will ya?" Aladdin rolled his eyes at his blue friend before turning back to Mickey. "We'll be heading in then." He bowed and grabbed a hold of Genie and pulled him into the room. Jasmine laughed and followed after them.

After everyone had arrived and was seated and accounted for, Mickey found out that the only one missing was Yen Sid. _"Where could he be?"_ the mouse King wondered. He was seated near the front of the room, Minnie, Donald, Goody, and Daisy seated beside him. In front of him were all the representatives; they were casting curious glances to the others in the room.

"Mickey, you need to get started." Minnie whispered to him. "If he's gonna show it'll be later." Mickey nodded to her, they needed to get started.

So he rose to his feet; the indistinct chattering in the room ceased as they all looked at him, the man, uh, mouse who gathered them all. Mickey opened his mouth to speak, but before a sound could escape his lips, there was an explosion of smoke in the middle of the room. There were gasps, Leon, Hercules, Will, and others stood up, ready for a fight, but what appeared in form the smoke wasn't an enemy, but the old wizard Yen Sid himself.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he apologized brushing off his robes. "Flora was being a bit troublesome."

Mickey sighed; he was still the same wizard from before. "It's alright, as long as you made it. He looked around the room and saw that everything had calmed down again.

"So, shall we begin?" People nodded and grunted in agreement.

"Ok so first off..."The King started as all meetings did; why they were there, the importance of friendships and allies, and finally what, or rly, whom brought them all together. Here and there notes were being taken, the castles recorders working hard to keep up and follow what was being said. The meeting went well, but, for someone, something wasn't right.

Yen Sid had been watching his old pupil carefully, he seemed tired, or worn out. Probably from his duties as King, but somehow that reasoning didn't satisfy. During the meeting, the different groups shared their ideas and stories, allowing them to get more comfortable with everyone in the room. Yen Sid smiled; this truly was a magnificent thing. If he would have been asked years ago if he thought the worlds were to open up to each other, he would have said no right away, but here it was happening right before his eyes. The meeting carried on for the next few hours before it was decided they would break for the day. The groups could mingle with each other, walk around the castle, and maybe grab a bite to eat, or perhaps nap in their room. When most of the group had exited the room, he walked up to Mickey who was currently resting his head in his hands.

"You did well, Mickey." Yen Sid smiled at him.

"Thanks, Im glad to see everything's going well; I was kinda worried at first about bringing this many different people in one place, but im not now, after seeing how well they get along with one another.

"It shouldn't be a surprise; after all we're all connected by the same thing." He said. Mickey nodded absentmindedly. "You did invite Sora I hope."

"Oh, what? Sora? Yeah...I planned on asking them to come later." Mickey replied. Yen Sid looked at him before turning to gaze around the room at the remaining occupants. They saw Will Turner and Elizabeth talking with Hercules and Meg, Mulan and Belle were laughing together by one of the tables, Shang and the Beast remaining respectably silent.

Yen Sid looked back to Mickey. "Will you tell me what's troubling you?"

Mickey stared at him, laughing nervously. "What makes you think something is wrong."

His old teacher laughed. "My dear old pupil, the question would be how I can't know something is wrong." Mickey looked down at his hands. "Ever since i got here you've seemed nervous and troubled about something, what is it?" Yen Sid raised his voice a little to show his seriousness, but this caused their conversation to be known, fore it attracted the attention of those around them.

Mickey sighed. "It's nothing but nerves. I haven't gotten the best sleep these past few days, with all preparations for this and-."

"Don't bother lying to your old teacher," he chuckled. "I can see through it all."

By that time Mickey had already risen from the table and was currently standing in front of it by his teacher. Mickey looked down and chuckled.

"Seems after all this time you still know me better than most."

"Well of course, Im not the greatest wizard of the time for nothing."

By then a small group had walked over, attracted by the conversation, but this didn't faze Yen Sid or the King very much.

"Well, there was this dream I had, but it was just a dream, so it couldn't be real." Mickey said this as if he was trying to reassure himself more than the others.

"What was this all about?" Elizabeth Swan whispered as she joined the group. The 'small group' from earlier was attracting more guests.

"The kings worried about something and we're trying to see what it is." Jane told her as she tried to see past Tarzan and Jack Skellington.

"Silence please!" Yen Sid asked the crowd; silence followed up immediately.

Mickey was at a loss, how did it end up like this? Why did there have to be so many people!!

"Well, continue." He told the King as if he was telling him to recite the alphabet.

"_Talk about being put on the spot."_ Mickey thought. "Ok well.." He looked around and saw Minnie, she nodded encouragingly to him. "Well, it's hard to understand really, it took place at Destiny Islands.

"Hyuck, that's where Sora lives," Goofy spoke up. There were murmurs through the crowd.

"I know, I saw him," Mickey said sadly, eyes downcast.

The sudden change in his tone worried them.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Donald asked. "Was he alright?"

"He was."

"What do you mean "Was?"' They turned around to see the twilight town group; it was Hayner who had spoken up. Pence was staring at the mouse King curiously and Olette stood beside them, looking worried like most others gathered.

"Well, first off, both Kairi and Sora were at the play island. They talked for a while, what they talked about i really dont know, but when they got back he walked Kairi home-."

"Aw, how romantic." Alice sighed. Some of the other princess' of heart giggled.

Mickey decided to leave out the part where she kissed Sora because that was really a private moment between the two. "When he was walking to his house, some heartless appeared and attacked him-."

"He was attacked? That's terrible!" Daisy commented.

"We shouldn't worry, Sora wouldn't let a couple of heartless beat him down!" Peter Pan said enthusiastically, his arms folded to show his certainty. Others agreed to this.

"There's no way Sora would lose to them, he is after all a hero now." Hercules told them. Several others seconded that.

"Yes, I know that just as well as you do," Mickey tried to explain. "But it wasn't just the heartless! A man whom I've never seen before, named Trex, just showed up out of the blue, or should i say a dark portal. Even though I didn't know him, Sora seemed to recognize him." He looked towards Donald and Goofy. "Do you recall anyone like that?"

They both shook their heads. "We've never seen or heard of this fellow before when we were traveling around." Goofy said as he thought back to it. Donald nodded in agreement.

"Well, what happened then?" Alice asked. She, just like everyone else in the room, had been clinging to every word so far.

"Well, Trex attacked Sora...They fought and both seemed evenly matched, but then he brought out something that Sora didn't expect. Something I still have trouble believing."

The group leaned in with anticipation. "What was it?" Jack asked impatiently.

"What he had was...a Keyblade."

Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils

Yori: You left them at a cliffhanger?"

Maddie: "Yes."

Saki: "sweet!"

Yori: "why"

Aiko: "well the original Chp. 5 was too long so when i shortened it, it ended up being a cliffhanger!"

Saki/Yori: "Well go ahead and type up the next chapter then."

Aiko: "Sry, can't. im going to a friends house."

Yori\Saki: "And we werent invited?"

Aiko: "EE! I gotta run! thx to those who have read Essence of the Heart up to this point! will try to type up the next chp. soon! till then--"


	6. Important Notice ,

OLA! It's me again, lol.

A lot of you here might be tired of seeing this fic up here a lot, well I'm sorry. Fiction complications suckkkkk. D: Epic fail right? Lol, I posted this notice to hope to get some more readers since I've done quite a mess of all this submitting. I have this all typed and have a all this time to finally update all these fictions. Some reviews would be nice…its just, its kind of embarrassing to have a fic with all these chapters but no reviews. The lack of reviews seem to discourage more, but idk.. :] Lol.

I am tough irritated. The documents that I was so happy survived after my computer crashed, did in fact NOT survive. I do sort of regret writing those LONG chapters…it takes forever to type, well not really…but…yeah XD

But on another note, for the summary of the story itself…I just don't know what to do. I hate the lack of space available for the summary. I might need to rethink it later.

R&R

~Aiko~


	7. Grouping

Okay...here we go again. after forever and eternity, chp. 6.... first we of sophmore year is done..and u cant even go to lunch now without a huge drama. even band sucks now :[ my life is spiraling downwards, **haha emo kid reference** ;] but yeah, in this point in my life, i turn to writing, so this i can promise to readers, expect more updates, at least weekly or every other. or days, depending on the workload. i have all Pre-AP and AP classes along with Marching Band/&practice to be dealing with ^.^ oh, and also...there was no..um, how should I put this...reviewer and/or editor for these, sooo...forgive the mess of errors I know exist in the following chp. you can always review to tell me if you want too~

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i do not own kingdom hearts, if I did, another installment would have been out already on a playstation console instead of those lame handhelds *which i refuse to play* but thats my thing, to others who've played them and enjoyed, congrats to you! :] heehee~~ O.O

* * *

*REcap*

_The group leaned in with anticipation. "What was it?" Jack asked impatiently._

"_It was...a Keyblade."_

A stone silence filled the room as the inhabitants of the large room took in this new bit of information. The King looked around and sighed.

"_Maybe this wasnt such a good idea after all...oh well, might as well continue."_ He coughed once to get everyones attention focused again as he continued on with his "tale." "He had caught Sora off guard and attacked mercilessly. Sora was then thrown into this lamp post, and while he was trying to recover, Trex just attacked him again, dealing a serious slash to his arm." Some in his audience gasped. "After all that he just left, leaving him there, but what worries me the most is who he said his master was."

"Who'd he say it was?" Yuffie asked.

"He said it was Xheanort, and apparently they're trying to get to Sora, but for what I don't know."

"That's awful! What are we gonna do?" Jane asked aloud.

"Hold on here people, calm down." The group turned their attention to its newest speaker: Leon.

"What are you talking about? Sora could be seriously hurt by now or-" Donald was stopped with a sharp look in his direction from the gunblader.*

Leon sighed, rubbing his temple before he spoke again. "Listen, I know we're all worried here, but think about this for a moment. Now, your Majesty, I mean no disrespect, but you did say that this was all a dream. After everything that has happened, it wouldn't be surprising that you just weren't having a nightmare or something. Plus the man known as Xheanort is no more; both his heartless and nobody have been taken care of by our young key wielder." There were murmurs in the crowd as they all thought this over.

"What if this just wasnt a dream? What if it could have been a vision?" Aerith wondered, speaking her thoughts aloud.

"It certainly wouldnt be unheard of." Yen Sid agreed nodding his head.

"A dream, a vision, how are we supposed to know what really did or didn't happen." Yuffie huffed.

"Well we could just open a window and see." Merlin spoke scratching his beard. "What do you think" he asked turning to the older wizard.

"I think we could do that, it's fairly simple." Yen Sid nodded pulling up the sleeves of his long robe.

"Window? What do you mean?" Jack Skellington asked with wide eyes. He was always looking for anything that could improve his Halloween ideas.

"It's rather simple. We all just need to picture the purpose of the spell, in this case Sora and his friends, and then the image will appear. It's not rly a window it's more of a...well you'll just see." Merlin laughed getting his wand out.

Most in the room sweat dropped; did he even have the right idea of what he was actually doing? Well, they knew Yen Sid at least knew what he was doing so they calmed.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Daisy asked.

"Once I tell you all when, we want you to picture the objective in your minds ok?" The old wizard took out a pouch from one of his pockets and started to sprinkle it, but instead of falling to the ground it hovered in the air, making a cloud of dark blue and purple. As he started mumbling the incantation,* he nodded to those in the room to being their part as well. To those in the room it almost felt like hours crawled by, but in reality it was only about a minute and a half before the cloud started to clear, only to reveal a mirror of some sort. It's glass was shadowed by whiteness on the inside.

"There is nothing there." Donald muttered. Daisy kicked him lightly and muttered to him to shut up and concentrate. All around the room they were remembering the smiling energetic boy who had always been like a shining star in the darkness. They remember the times together when he, Donald, and Goofy were traveling around.

Leon smirked as he remembered when he first met Sora; thinking he was just some weak punk with a big mouth and a cheesy grin. Back then he never would have though he would have accomplished so much, grow so much in such short time. Then again he felt kind of sad, because they had called out for the Wielder of the Keyblade, they had called him and thrown him into utter chaos and confusion, forcing him to grow up under harsh circumstances, but he never stopped nor gave in, and because of that they owed him more then they could say.

As the group was lost in their many memories, they almost failed to notice the mirror unfading to reveal a white room with its only inhabitant sitting up on the white bed, left arm casted in a sling; and an IV attached to his other arm. It was then that they all felt a twinge in their heart; their young friend was indeed badly hurt. They were worried to see that the blue eyes that were always shining a full of his energetic childish spirit were dull and glazed over as they stared blankly at the wall in front of them as if trying to figure out why or how he was there; there was no expression was found on the once smiling face.

"Oh my god..." Elizabeth gasped, quickly turning to bury herself in Will's shoulder for comfort. Some such as Yuffie, Peter, Phil, and Aladdin shook their heads as if to make sure they were seeing things right.

"So it really did happen after all..." Mickey said sadly.

"Oh no, this is certainly dreadful." Minnie said putting a hand on her husbands shoulder.

"Oh, when I find this Trex guy he's going to be sorry!" Donald fumed. Others nodded in agreement, seeing Sora like this was just awful; it was a side they've never seen before and it was terrifying. Whispers broke out among the group; some expressing sadness and wishes to be there with the boy, others of anger and revenge on Trex, but of course no matter what was said they knew they'd be of almost no help either way. While they were conversing, they suddenly stopped abruptly as the noticed the door to Sora's room open; they couldn't help but smile as they saw Kairi walk in, but they saw a brunette girl walk in with her followed by another brunette boy who also had spiky hair, the last two they didn't know, but assumed they were also Sora's friends; which is believable because you just couldnt but to gravitate towards his usually optimistic cheerfully childish personality. As the door open they notice his expression go from blank to his usual grinning self.

His head hurt from where he had landed on the sidewalk, his back hurting from when he was slammed into the post, and of course his arm from that freak Trex. He blinked a few times as the room he was in came into focus.

_"Wait, what room, I was on the sidewalk?"_ Sora quickly sat up, but winced as he clutched his sides. He looked up and looked around, the room was standard white, and he was on the only bed in there. He recognized it as a hospital from all the machines in there, and the IV in his arm. _"I'm still on the Islands at least."_ He sighed in relief as he saw the palm trees waving around in the wind outside his window; since he could only see the tops of the he guessed he was on the second or third floor.

Sora sighed as he held his head in his hands (A/N: hand rly since one IS on a sling after all...heh)

and sighed as his attempt to arrange his thoughts were muddled by the numerous drugs and pain killers given to him by the doctors. He knew pretty much everything...Trex attacked, heartless, and...

"He had a Keyblade!" Sora gasped. _"He mentioned something about Xheanort too, but isn't he gone?"_

All this thinking was giving him a headache, so he put it aside in his min for later as he took to staring at the wall, trying to ignore the dulled throbbing in the back of his head. Sora heard footsteps outside his door; he recognized the voices of his friends.

"Do you think it's ok to see him?" It was Selphie's voice.

"Yeah, he might still be sleeping..." Kairi added.

"It doesn't matter, we're friends right? So we're gonna check on him." It was Tidus who spoke this time.

Sora inwardly smiled, they were really such good friends._ "Don't want to make them worried."_ The brunette thought as the door started to open. As soon as the three had stepped in he took in a great effort to get his actual smile and not play a fake one, he was better than that. He saw relieved looks on their faces as they saw him smiling up at them.

"Hey guys," he waved, displaying his grin even more.

Kairi sighed, "Glad to see you up. You really had us all worried for a while." She walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Uh, yeah, Sorry 'bout that." Sora laughed while rubbing the back of his head in a apologetic gesture, but winced as he touched the sore part. "Aahh..."

"Your parents have already been to see you; they're talking to the doctor down the hall." Selphie explained as sat down in one of the cushioned chairs; Tidus sitting on the arm of it.

"You really made a mess of yourself this time, what'd you do? Throw yourself of a cliff?" Tidus joked.

Sora rolled his eyes. "Oh yes Tidus, I actually threw myself off the cliff."

"Oh come on Sora, what happened?" Selphie asked.

_"Oh boy...What am I gonna say?" _Sora inwardly panicked as he thought of what to say.

Kairi turned her attention to him, her eyes full of the same curiosity and worry as the others.

"I was..," he thought his words carefully before he spoke them. "I was...attacked."

His friends' eyes widen as they processed this new bit of information.

"Attacked? By who?" Tidus was on his feet now, ready to go after the dirt bag that attacked his friend.

"Oh that's awful." Selphie cried.

Kairi was speechless, how could somebody beat Sora up? A regular person couldn't have done this, Sora was to good, and there was no way that he would let them. Unless the person that did this wasn't just anyone...She was taken out of her thoughts when Sora laughed nervously.

"Guys calm down, I'm fine ok? It's nothing to get upset over, and besides I don't know who attacked me; it was at night and some guys just jumped me."

"Well, whoever it was had some strength; the lamp post that you were found by was like totally bent out!" Selphie exclaimed.

"They had...bats..?" Sora forgot about that part.

"Bats too! Oh that's it, someone's going down." Tidus was getting fired up.

Sora, Selphie, and Kairi sweat dropped.

"Umm, ok? You let me know how that works out." Sora laughed.

Kairi needed to ask Sora about these "guys" who had jumped him, but what she had to ask would have to wait until Selphie and Tidus left. As if answering her thoughts, Tidus' phone went off.

_Do you know what you did to me?_

"Ah, sorry guys," Tidus looked through his pockets trying to find it.

_I opened the door and you said come back to me._

_And she cries in his arms and she asked is it over?_

_And do you know how i feel when you're gone-_

"Got it! Finally..." He chuckled, flipped open his phone and answered. "Hello?"

"............."

"Oh, hey! Nothing, we're here checking on Sora at the hospital."

The other three looked at each other, who was he talking to now?

"........!"

"Yeah, sure." he turned to Sora. "Wakka says hi and that he hopes you feel better soon. Said he would have been here, but he's visiting some relatives out of town."

Sora's smile widened. "Aw, tell him I said thanks." Tidus nodded.

"So it's Wakka he's talking too." Selphie said rolling her eyes playfully. "Should have known." Kairi giggled

"..............-...?"

They saw Tidus nod his head before speaking. "Yeah, sure, I can do that after we leave here."

"........."

"No, prob. Yeah, talk to you later, bye."

"............"

He hung up his cell and turned back to them.

"What are we doing after we leave here?" Selphie asked.

"Oh, he just wanted me to go pick up a book he had ordered, nothing big." he shrugged.

"Oh..." She was hoping for something more exciting. (-.-)

Just after this was said the door opened to reveal another visitor: Tall, slim, muscled, and of course his trademark silver hair.

"Riku!" Sora waved from his bed. "Don't be a stranger, join the party."

"I don't know, it looks a bit crowded in here if you ask me, maybe I should come back later." He laughed.

"Ah, no, that's ok Riku, Tidus and I were fixing to leave anyway." Selphie said jumping up from her chair.

Sora put on a pout. "You're leaving me."

Tidus laughed and walked over, ruffling his spiky hair, but still being careful of his sore head. "Yeah, we know you'll miss us squirt, but it's best we be going." Sora swatted the hand away when he heard "Squirt."

"Hey, I'm the same size as you! Who you calling a squirt!" he huffed as Tidus grabbed Selphie's hand and dashed out of the room laughing.

"Bye Sora!" Selphie called over her shoulder as they disappeared.

Riku couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

"Wow." He sighed as he looked at his friend, bandaged and all.

Sora turned to look at him. "What?"

"You haven't even been home a full month and your already getting yourself into trouble." The older teen smirked, but not even he could hide the concern in his eyes for his best friend. "So, are you going to tell us what happened?"

"Hyuck, look it's Riku!" Goofy said cheerily.

"That's the guy from Hollow Bastion when all of this first started!" The beast said recognizing him. (A/N: or rly should I say the prince since he did get turned back at the end of the game....what was his name again? lol .)

"He tried to take Pinocchio." Gepetto said remembering the silver hair teen from the earlier years.

"You got it all wrong; he's not a bad guy, or at least not any more." Jiminy spoke up from his seat on Goofy's shoulder where he had been doing his recordings.

"Gawrsh, that's right, he's Sora and Kairi's best friend."

"As I remember wasn't he trying to eliminate Sora?" beast/prince asked.

"Well, he was kinda obsessed-"

"Possessed!" Donald corrected the knight.

"Anyway, long story short Riku is back to normal and good again." Jiminy told them.

"That's right, so let's move on from this shall we?" he didnt want to sound rude, but he knew Riku already feels bad enough about what he's done without others repeating things; even if he wasn't there to hear them.

"Looks like Sora's back to normal." Pence spoke up, unlike the others who were caught up in their Riku discussion; he was focusing on the scene in the mirror still. Something just didn't seem right to him, why was Sora all happy even though he should be feeling like s- well you get the idea. Hayner and Olette standing next to him looked and saw him grinning and laughing as usual. The Sora they had seen staring blankly at the wall earlier just seemed like some figment of their imagination by then, but they couldn't forget his face...he had looked so empty; they shivered involuntarily.

"He looks fine to me, yeah." Donald nodded. Daisy hit him over the head.

"Honestly, you're so clueless sometimes. We're wondering why he's so blank one moment and happy the next."

"It might be because he doesn't want to show pain when he's with others because he might think that we see that as a sign of weakness." Aerith thought aloud.

"If that's the case, then why would he ever think that? We're his friends after all."

"That is true, but just think about the kind of person he is," this time it was Leon who spoke up, seeing the point Aerith was trying to get at. "He hates troubling people, so he just doesn't want anyone to worry. No worry = no problem."

"How can he think like that, and after everything he's done for us?" Jasmine asked.

"Yea, I mean, like, technically, he's the big guy here, the hero to us all, we owe him more than words can say and he can't talk to us?" Yuffie asked, a little ticked that he wouldn't talk to them if he was having problems.

"That must be it." Mickey said suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Well, it goes like this, and try to think this from Sora's point of view. First, he's thrown from his normal life on the Islands into this struggle with the heartless; losing his friends, family, home/world, and everything else." There was silence as everyone thought this over. "He then had to ally himself with people he had no idea about and confront evils and dangers he would have never thought existed. Almost everything depended on his success, worlds, peoples lives, friends...you can only imagine the pressure he had to bear."

"I don't even think you could imagine." Meg spoke up while she was slowly stroking Pegasus.

"So, if we haven't I sure Donald and Goofy have, I mean they HAVE traveled with him the entire time." Daisy spoke up. "Right?" she turned toward the court wizard and knight. The two of them scratched their heads nervously.

"Well uh...we talked of course." Donald said.

"Right, about finding the king, which place we should go next, fighting skills, practicing, enemy information, battle plans..."

"What about _personal_ things though? Like family life, childhood, anything except the job." Daisy scolded the two of them as they looked at each other guiltily; some others doing likewise. "He must have lonely and you guys didnt do anything! I mean, you guys are supposed to be really close, yet here you are, not knowing anything about one another." She might have continued her rant, if Mickey hadn't cut in.

"Now, now. No need to fuss, it's all in the past now."

"Yes, let's all just calm down and we can discuss this later," Minnie suggested walking up next to Mickey. "Hmm, looks like they're all talking again as well." She murmured; Sora's voice drifted out from the "mirror."

"So, what's up?" He asked the older teen.

"I should be the one asking the questions," Riku corrected, shutting the door and walking over to the younger two. "Now tell us, what the hell happened to you?"

Sora stared at him, then at Kairi before turning his gaze back towards the white wall in front of him.

"Nothing...really important," he muttered. "Just me being careless," he shrugged his shoulders. "But it wont happen again." The last sentence was spoken quietly that they almost didnt catch it.

"No, that's not true, you were attacked by something!" Kairi exclaimed.

"What would-" Sora tried to counter, but was too late.

"It was heartless wasn't it?" Riku hit the bull's eye,

"Now what makes you say that?" Sora faked innocence.

"Well, it wasn't just some dog."

He couldn't help it, but after seeing Riku's expression, Sora laughed. They didn't say anything, but hearing the familiar sound of their friend's cheerful laugh made them feel alot better.

"Come on Sora, this is serious, help us out here." Kairi coaxed.

Soras looked and saw her expression, and well, knowing Sora, let's just say he couldn't say no. "Fine, but honestly, its nothing much different from usual..." So he retold them of the previous nights events of what happened after he left Kairi's house, minus the kiss; she didn't seem to keen on discussing it with Riku standing there.

"You were saying this wasn't a big deal? That Trex guy could have killed you!" The older teen cried.

"Shh, keep it down!" Sora whispered pointing towards the door.

"Sora this is serious." Kairi stated. She turned her head towards Riku. "Should we contact the King?" She asked.

Riku shrugged before running a hand through his hair. "Nah, I don't think so, not yet anyways."

Sora was just looking between the two; secretly he was happy that Riku chose not to get the mouse King involved yet.

"Why not," Kairi asked, "I think that this kind of stuff concerns him too, I mean, if Xheanort is back then-"

"Kairi, calm down, I only said no, because Im pretty sure he already knows." Riku smirked, now leaning back against the wall.

"Gosh, he's good." Yuffie whispered to Aerith, who just laughed.

"How'd he know that you know?" Goofy asked aloud, but received no answer.

"How did you come to figure that?" The brunette asked as one delicate eyebrow rose.

"It's just the way he is." Riku simply put. "It's kinda hard to explain, but then again it's not...you just have to think about it."

Sora laughed at him. "Well, I hope he's not, I'd hate to make a huge fuss over something that turned out to be nothing, its almost embarrassing.

"It's a friends' job to worry about a friend if they get hurt." Kairi explained as she adjusted her seat on the hospital bed.

"That is true, but it's not in their description to go all haywire and freak out." He sat up taller. "I mean look, im perfectly fine!" He flashed that signature smile, but it slightly faltered when he felt the dull throbbing at the back of his head.

"Sora," Kairi sighed and turned to look him straight in the eyes. "Its okay to show that your troubled, I mean, no ones going to be mad at you for showing any emotion besides your usual bubbly self." Silence followed this small speech, but all the while Sora had kept his smile up; even if it had lowered to a small sad one by this time.

"What are you talking about Kai? Im fine, and Im not showing any "troubled" emotions because Im not feeling any, so please stop worrying."

Kairi shook her head. "You've done so much in the past for all of us, so why don't you let us help you?"-

"What's she talking about?" Pence whispered to Olette. "I mean, he's right. There doesn't really seem to be anything wrong with him. Olette elbowed him in the side, causing him t grimace.

"She's known him longer than we have, Im sure she knows what she's talking about."

Pence looked at her, "slightly confused" written all over his face; Olette giggled quietly.

"Call it women's intuition; we're usually never wrong when it come to things like this.

* * *

"Life Sucks, and then you die" -band camp '09

* * *

Yay!! xD chp.6 finally posted! i found my binder as you guys could probably tell. See, yesterday, my band director told us we needed Kaki shorts for some random bandorama things hes signed us up for..something I HAVE NO TIME FOR WITH ALL THESE TESTS!!!! Dx...well anyway, i went through my closet and i found my old bookbag from last years school year. And I was like, "Hmm, wonder what random junk i might still have in here." so i opened it up and there it was, sitting between my math and English notebooks!! I was like, "YES!! My prayers answered!!" XD because i originally started this fic last school year in my math class cuz i was bored. And one thing led to another and i soon found myself with lots of chps written and so i posted them, then lost the binder when school got out*hmm* and found it again! So Yay! And since i had an extra binder i just kept it there...LOL what? ;]

Thanks to those who have read it so far! Dont forget, R&R

the more updates the faster the chapters will come *as fast as i can get on my ridiculous schedule! Dx*

PS- sry for sounding like such a whyning B***H XD i know IM not the only busy person out there ;] ttyl~


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